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Chapter 24
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Love in the Time of Quarantine Chapter 25
There’s a light dusting of snow on the ground when I pull up to my parents’ house on Christmas Eve. I’ve waited until the last possible minute for me to go home because of having to face Matt. I’m ready to talk, ready to forgive him and try to move on. But that doesn’t meant that I actually want to do it. I know that it’s going to be a hard conversation, on that neither of us is going to enjoy, and I’m not looking forward to it. But…it’s been six months and it’s time we clear the air. The second that I pull into my parents’ driveway, they are running out the door to hug me. “Wait!” I say, holding my hands out to stop them. “Don’t you want me to quarantine? Should you be hugging me?” “You and Kora haven’t been around anyone other than your trips to the grocery store. You don’t have symptoms. And we miss you!” Dad exclaims, wrapping his arms around me. Mom hugs me from the other side and I’m enfolded in both of their arms at the same time. And honestly, I don’t have the
Love in the Time of Quarantine Chapter 26
Chapter 26 I have a month off from school for the winter semester, so I decide to spend three weeks at home with my family. I’ve missed them so much and I want to spend as much time with them as I can. It’s great to be home where I feel like I’m being taken care of by my family. We play board and card games, make all kinds of food and messes in the kitchen, watch loads of trash TV, and just…be together. It’s not the same between Matt and me. I don’t think that it ever will be. He said some things that can’t be unsaid and the feelings that those words caused within me were pretty big. I don’t know that we’ll ever get over it, but we will move on. And that’ll be enough. Ericka and Jamal come over a few times. They are my parents’ best friends. They are like a second set of parents to me and Matt. But I will literally see Ashton in every look that they give me. He has his mother’s nose. His father’s smile. His mother’s way of pausing before he tells a joke. His father’
Love in the Time of Quarantine Chapter 27
For the next month, I’m focused on getting back into the swing of the semester. The nice part is that I’m nearly done with all of my gen eds. The only ones that I have left are ones that can also count towards my major. Which means for the first time in my college career, all I’m focused on is art. Not necessarily my kind of art, but art all the same. I also get back to jogging like I was before. I didn’t get to do it as much in Ohio. The snow was too deep, people weren’t really on the streets, so snow plows weren’t running and sidewalks weren’t cleaned. I went to the gym a few times, but it wasn’t the same. I mean, I love the exercise part of jogging, but the biggest thing that I loved, that I craved, was being outdoors. It cleared my head and helped me to forget. Forget the pain. Forget the betrayal. Forget…everything. Everything that happened while I was with Ashton over quarantine. Being with my family had made it easier to forget. Making up with Matt made it eas
Love in the Time of Quarantine Chapter 28
I continue to get flowers everyday. Always a Gerbera daisy with some other flower. A sunflower to remind me of the day that we stopped on a road trip back from a cabin our families rented and went traipsing through a sunflower field. A rose to remind me of the bouquet he gave me on my high school graduation day. A lily to remind me of the time he took the blame for when I broke my mom’s favorite crystal lily. Each day a different flower and a different memory. And with every memory, he told me how much he missed something about me. At first it was my smile. Then it was my eyes. My laugh. My compassion. On Sunday, he sent me another full bouquet of Gerbera daisies. At first, I had given everything to Kora to get rid of. After the third day, I just gave her the notes that came with them after reading them. But by the end of the week, I was keeping them. And my wonderful friend, Kora, had kept them all instead of getting rid of them. She said that she knew that I would
Love in the Time of Quarantine Chapter 29
It’s the day of my opening and I’m a nervous fucking wreck. I barely slept the night before and I feel like a zombie right now. Finally, at 4 am, I decide to just get out of bed and get the day going. Ship told me to text him the second that I was ready for breakfast this morning, no matter what time it was. He would then tell me if I was insane or if I was being a normal first time exhibitor. I’ve kind of got the feeling that he’s as nervous as I am. I go for a run. Yes, it’s 4 am, but there’s still plenty of people out on the street. Quarantine is still a thing, but New York has decided that it’s time to get on with our lives. I feel comfortable running out here as long as I stick to the busier and more well lighted areas. In an attempt to exhaust myself, I run for an entire hour, hoping that I’ll come home and pass out on the couch. No such luck. So, I decide that I’m going to take a long, leisurely bath, shaving, exfoliating, and soaking in the tub. But I can’t rela
Love in the Time of Quarantine Chapter 30
“Samantha.” His voice is so hoarse, so full of emotion. His eyes, full of those tears that I painted in that piece, are staring right at me. He swallows before he can speak again. “Sam…hey.” “Hi,” I whisper. He turns away from me, wiping at his cheeks and eyes. “Look at you. You really made it to the big time, didn’t you?” I chuckle, though I can feel the tears in my own eyes. “Yeah, well. I kind of feel like I owe this to you, just a bit.” He barks out laughter at that. “Yeah, I’ve never been anyone’s muse before. I’m not sure whether I should feel flattered or…disgusted with myself.” Looking back at me, the amused smirk on his face disappears. “Definitely disgusted.” I try to blink back tears, but they just fall instead. “I know that this is your big night. And Matt told me that you’ve been up since 4, so I know that you have to be exhausted. If you want to talk later, we can. I’ll take you back to the apartment and we can talk tomorrow. Or, after you sleep
Love in the Time of Quarantine Story 2: Cole and Kent - Chapter 1: Cole
It’s 2 am and I’m drowning myself in a bottle of tequila. It stopped burning down my throat hours ago, not too long after Zoe left. Fuck, Zoe! I can’t even think about her without taking another swig of the bottle in my hand. But when I bring it to my lips, I find that it’s empty, just a few drops left. Well, shit! Soooo, the tequila’s gone. Time to start on the vodka. I stand and try to walk to the bar that we’ve got set up on the other side of the room. Unfortunately, I stumble, banging my shin on the coffee table. Fucking hell that hurt! Who moved the coffee table there? I let out a yowl of pain and fall forward, barely managing to catch myself on the couch arm as the door opens. I hear deep giggling and someone saying “Shh! Shhh!” I turn my head to the side, but my vision swims and it takes me a second to make sense of what I’m seeing. “Cole? Dude, what are you doing standing there in the dark?” It’s only after he speaks that my vision settles and I see my r
Love in the Time of Quarantine Chapter 2: Cole
I wake up to the smell of Axe bodyspray and fabric softener. My head is on something warm, my arms wrapped around it, too. I’m still half asleep, so nothing is really sinking in until I hear a deep, masculine voice. “Never would have taken you for a snuggler.” My eyes fly open and I try to jump back, but my arm is underneath his back. When I focus, I see that I’m in bed with Kent. Both of us are shirtless, him in just boxers and me with sweats on. “What the fuck happened?!” I nearly scream in his face. He just laughs at me. “You seriously don’t remember anything?” I shake my head and he mutters, “Figures.” He sits up and I immediately move to the other side of the bed. I’m not as shook up as much as I wish I was about waking up next to Kent and that’s pissing me off. “What happened?” “Look man, I came home - “ Kent starts but I interrupt. “With a guy.” The words come out with a bit more anger than I meant to put in them and I try to play it off by rolling my eye
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